GLA Donations

Andrew Boff: Please provide me with a list of all donations to the GLA since May 2016 detailing who provided the donations, the value of each donation and the purpose of them?

The Mayor: The GLA Gifts and Hospitality Policy and Procedure notes that, on occasion, gifts may be given to the GLA that the Mayor, an Assembly Member, or a member of GLA staff, accept on behalf for the GLA and which are retained by the GLA. These gifts are registered with the Monitoring Officer in the normal way. Since 2016, no gifts to the GLA have been registered by the Monitoring Officer.
In addition, each year the GLA also receives a number of tickets to events. A full list and explanation of each can be found here: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/governance-and-spending/good-governance/gifts-and-hospitality/corporate-declarations

Rent Costs

Gareth Bacon: Can you provide details of any facilities/office/storage rental costs paid by the GLA, including but not limited to its use of space in Union Street and Palestra, for the last 3 years?

The Mayor: The GLA pays rent for its accommodation at City Hall. The rent in the last 3 years was £6,757,188 in 2016/17, £7,931,940 in 2017/18 and £7,952,308 in 2018/19.
The GLA pays the London Fire Brigade under a License Agreement for the use of office space at Union Street. The cost of the rent at Union Street for the last 3 years was £637,500 in 2016/17; £1,120,175 in 2017/18 and £1,360,006 in 2018/19.
In 2018/18 the GLA occupied office space in the London Legacy Development Corporation offices at 1 Stratford Place for a rent of £53,362.
The GLA pays an archiving supplier rent for the storage of its archived hard copy documents. The cost of rent for archive space over the last 3 years was £53,321 in 2016/17, £19,266 in 2017/18 and £12,994 in 2018/19.
The GLA has not rented space in Transport for London’s building at Palestra.

Solar power on the Transport for London estate

Caroline Russell: How much solar PV capacity has been installed and is now operational on Transport for London (TfL) properties or land since you came into office in May 2016?

The Mayor: My Solar Action Plan sets out plans to install 1.1 MW of solar on the Transport for London (TfL) estate. TfL has already installed some panels and is now working on installations at further sites to exceed the 1.1 MW target through the RE:FIT framework. TfL will also install solar on a new Train Modification Unit at Acton in 2020.
TfL has carried out detailed studies of the total solar potential across its estate to support the longer term ambitions of my Solar Action Plan. This has included mapping the total potential across all TfL-owned rooftops, and studies on larger land holdings and trackside areas. TfL will be undertaking on-site assessments of the most promising locations over the coming months

GLA Procurement

Tony Devenish: What are you doing to ensure the GLA procures goods and services as efficiently as possible?

The Mayor: In 2015 the GLA utilised collaborative procurement opportunities across all of its functional bodies to develop common categories of spend and to deliver efficiencies and value for money. This involved setting up the Collaborative Procurement team in TfL. The main benefits of this approach were the leveraging of spend with the various supply markets and the reduced internal resources required to undertake the procurement exercises. All contracts awarded by the Collaborative Procurement team have the option for the GLA and its functional bodies to make use of them. The savings generated across the GLA and it functional bodies in the period since 2015 are in excess of £30m.
Major initiatives which are to be taken forward shortly include a procurement exercise for recruitment services, seeking to amalgamate all GLA and functional body spend through a master vendor arrangement.This is expected to deliver significant benefits across all organisations in terms of a good quality, streamlined service and a consistent process for engaging temporary and permanent staff.
The GLA is considering proposals to expand this collaborative approach to procurement to include more categories of spend so that even greater efficiencies can be delivered.
All procurement exercises take into account my responsible procurement policy, which was launched in July 2017 and which uses a risk and proportionality-based approach. The policy consists of six themes:
- Enhancing social value
- Encouraging equality and diversity
- Embedding fair employment practices
- Enabling skills, training and employment opportunities
- Promoting ethical sourcing practices.

Plastic cutlery spending

Tony Devenish: How much has the GLA spent on plastic cutlery in each year since 2015/16?

The Mayor: The Greater London Authority spent £421.30 on plastic cutlery in 2015/2016, £701.00 in 2016/2017, £315.15 in 2017/2018 and £349.70 in 2018/2019. These figures are based on a financial year. Since the start of 2019/2020 the Greater London Authority contractor no longer purchases plastic cutlery.
Metal cutlery is used for internal hospitality and in the City Hall Café. For people wishing to take food away from the cafe, wooden cutlery is available.

Paper towels spending

Tony Devenish: How much has the GLA spent on paper towels in each year since 2015/16?

The Mayor: The Greater London Authority spent £26,717.01 in the year 2015/2016, £26,921.37 in 2016/2017, £28,877.87 in 2017/2018, £34,893.23 in 2018/2019 and £21,470.69 so far in 2019/20 on paper towels. These figures are based on a financial year.

London Stadium

Andrew Dismore: Will E20 be contributing to the upgrade of corporate facilities for West Ham in the London Stadium? If so, how much?

The Mayor: E20 provided appropriate corporate hospitality facilities ahead of the permanent opening of the London Stadium in 2016. Those facilities provide an excellent experience for football, concert, baseball, rugby and athletics guests as well as being used as conference and event spaces throughout the year.
E20 works with its catering, conferencing and events operator and other partners to identify improvements to the facilities to meet customer needs. The financial contribution made to agreed projects by E20, West Ham United and other partners will depend on the financial benefits that are generated from that investment. West Ham United is currently assessing how the lounges may be adapted to reflect West Ham United’s customer needs. Once that piece of work concludes the parties will discuss funding.

Wooden cutlery

Tony Devenish: How much wooden cutlery has been used/provided in each year since 2015/16?

The Mayor: The Greater London Authority commenced purchasing wooden Cutlery during 2018/2019 and purchased 7000 wooden spoons, forks and knifes during that year. During current year 9000 wooden spoons, forks and knifes have been used/ purchased. These figures are based on a financial year.

Wooden cutlery spending

Tony Devenish: How much has the GLA spent on wooden cutlery in each year since 2015/16?

The Mayor: The Greater London Authority commenced purchasing wooden Cutlery during 2018/2019 and spent £220.85 that year. During the current year £444.55 has been spent so far. These figures are based on Financial year.

Groundskeeping Costs

Gareth Bacon: Can you provide a breakdown of GLA spend on groundskeeping, gardening and plant/vegetation maintenance for the last 3 years?

The Mayor: The Greater London Authority spent £22,174.36 in 2017, £23,061.33 in 2018 and £23,637.86 in 2019. These costs consist of the day to day horticultural maintenance on Parliament Square Garden and Trafalgar Square.
The Greater London Authority also spent £3200.00 in 2017 for tree maintenance following a tree inspection and £568.60 in 2019 for flower bed replacement at Parliament Square Garden.

Paper towels

Susan Hall: For each of the years Nov 16 to Oct 17, Nov 17 to Oct 18 and Nov 18 to Oct 19, please can you provide the number of paper towels used by the GLA?

The Mayor: The number of paper towels used by the Greater London Authority was 4,020,000 during the year November 2016 to October 2017, 4,136,250 during the year November 2017 to October 2018 and 4,293,750 during the year November 2018 to October 2019.